Five Set Apart to Public Ministry

Three men and two women were set apart to public ministry to serve an eccentric God Friday, June 9, at the 2006 New England Synod Assembly’s inspiring Festive Eucharist at Wesley United Methodist Church, downtown Worcester, Mass.

Four were ordained as pastors; one woman was commissioned as an associate in ministry (AIM).

• The Rev. Roldano Auguste, who was born and raised in Gonaives, Haiti, has been called as pastor for evangelical outreach at St. Paul, Bridgeport, Conn. He graduated from the School of Law and Economics at Gonaives and became a licensed attorney at law in 1996. His initial seminary education was through the Haitian Baptist Seminary of Limbe, where he was awarded a master of divinity degree in 2001. He received a master of sacred theology degree in 2004 from the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. He and his wife Beline Payoute Auguste have two daughters, Jessika and Marie Tanela.

• The Rev. Sean Michael Bunger, will serve as associate pastor at St. Luke, Gales Ferry, Conn. He received his master of divinity degree in May from Wartburg Theological Seminary in Dubuque, Iowa. Prior to seminary, he worked as the youth and family minister at Holy Spirit Lutheran Church in Juno Beach, Fla. He and his wife Jessica, who have been married for almost four years, have a 15-month-old son, Seth. Jessica received her Master of Arts degree, with a concentration in youth, mission and culture, from Wartburg in 2004.

• The Rev. Jeffrey Kane, active in the synod since high school, has been called away from New England to serve as pastor at Messiah, Schenectady, N.Y. Jeff grew up at Christ, Natick, Mass., but joined Messiah, Amherst, N.H., while working for Lutheran Social Services of Northern New England. After graduating from Boston University School of Theology, Jeff completed his Lutheran year at Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minn. He is currently a candidate for a master of theology degree.

• The Rev. Sara J. Wilson, formerly on the staff at Calumet Lutheran Camp and Conference Center, West Ossipee, N.H., has been called as pastor to Christ the King, Wilbraham, Mass. She received her master of divinity degree in May from the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg, Penn. The past two years, she has served at Emanuel, Hartford, Conn., as intern and later director of youth and outreach. She will be married this summer at Calumet.

• Celeste McQuarrie of Bow, N.H., a full time chaplain for Merrimack Valley Hospice, was commissioned for service as an Associate in Ministry, one of the three rostered lay ministries in the ELCA. (The other two are diaconal minister and deaconess.) She holds an undergraduate degree in religion and outreach from S.U.N.Y. Empire State and has done extensive field work and hospice training. Married for 26 years, she and her husband Lewis have three children, Irena, Neil and Sean. She is a member of Gethsemane, Manchester, N.H.